Can I Get an Underground Location and a Mythical Creature? The Stranger Things theme song plays as performer Izzy Renton moves in slow motion around a table and chairs, holding up the holy grail of tonight’s proceedings – the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual.
She takes a seat at the table as the heightened sound and lighting cut out, reverting to a more natural wash over the Pumphouse Coal Bunker. Soon Rebecca (Rebecca Mary Gwendolon) enters, followed by the Dungeon Master, Jed (Jed Stanton).
The three have gathered at Izzy’s house to play Dungeons and Dragons. It’s Rebecca’s first time playing and Izzy, expecting someone with more experience, is a bit miffed. Here we establish the reality level of the story, and a charmingly familiar sight for anyone who’s into D&D. The players and DM gathered around a table.
The players freeze as Jed steps out to address the audience, along with tonight’s ensemble cast – Frankie Browne, Nik Edwards and Gareth Blackler.
Can I Get an Underground Location and a Mythical Creature? is of course, not merely a staged game of D&D but rather a fully acted-out comedy improv show where the theme is D&D.
Absolutely everything is improvised, and there is a buzz in the audience as we are invited to provide a few key elements of the story. As the title suggests, selected audience members are asked to give an underground location (a cave mountain, yes, a mountain inside a cave), a mythical creature (Night Hag, selected from the Monster Manual), and the classes for our two players (Izzy gets Bard while Rebecca gets Fighter, perfect for her first-time-player character).
Now all the pieces are in place. As Jed begins setting the scene for our players, the table and chairs are magicked away by the ensemble.
Gwendolon and Renton (now costumed with items from a dress-up box) have an excellent rapport, as they easily establish their characters and relationship. They use the stereotypes of their classes in hilarious fashion. Izzy is a love-sick Bard and Rebecca the town’s heroic firefighter.
Over the course of the next sixty minutes, comical and wholesome shenanigans ensue, which regularly have the audience raucous with laughter.
The story is expectedly simple but provides a nice structure for the show. The ensemble cast duck in and out to fill up the world, acting out the other characters and even objects, such as a tree or cave entrance. The performers are clearly all experienced, able to cleverly develop their characters over the course of the story.
Had it not been made explicit that this show was entirely improvised, I might have been unsure, so slick were the cast at picking up on each other’s offers.
It was not just the Bard and the Fighter who got development. Throughout the story, the players and DM would jump back to reality, just as you might in a real game of D&D when you need to run something past the DM. This not only provided further opportunities for comedy but also for character, as we got a hint of Izzy and Rebecca’s relationship evolving too.
Despite being mostly confined to the beginning, the interactive element was not entirely over. Every time a roll is required, Stanton hands a large D20 (the 20-sided die any D&Der will tell you is essential to the game) to an audience member to roll. This is a nice low-pressure way to keep the audience involved, although it could’ve been fun to pepper in another few times that audience offers could be asked for.
The Coal Bunker was used nicely despite its restrictive size, with Stanton bouncing (literally) off the slanted wall as he weaved in and out of the playing space.
Ryan Stickland’s lighting ensured the performance remained visually dynamic, and his operation was excellent. Able to keep up with the actors when they added new visual elements or jumped between the story world and reality.
Can I Get an Underground Location and a Mythical Creature? beautifully captures the spirit and experience of Dungeons and Dragons. It is nicely bookended by the group of friends sitting around the table. Just like any improv show, it is a joy to watch the performers dig themselves into and out of holes. Witty one-liners, entertaining twists and turns, and heartfelt moments abound.
Improv troupe Improverished have created a tight formula which gives enough structure and grounding to the show while leaving room for the performers to play.
This format can be endlessly repeated for similarly fun and hilarious storytelling. Though the low-key elements of the show (the simple set, the costume box) keep it feeling pleasantly relatable, I would love to see what the troupe could do with a bigger budget and space, perhaps leaning further into the more heightened, campy aspects of this type of performance.
Erin O’Flaherty